By our correspondent
KARACHI: Pakistan celebrated a remarkable achievement at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards 2025 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where a delegation led by the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) returned home with seven awards.
The team represented 27 technology companies, startups, and student teams, making it the largest-ever Pakistani delegation at the event, comprising 55 participants in total. All delegates had earned their place through the highly competitive HBL P@SHA ICT Awards 2025, which had recognized 104 outstanding projects, including 37 winners, 58 runners-up, and nine special appreciation recipients.
The week-long event, inaugurated by Hou Yi-Hsiu, Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs, and Chen Chi-Mai, Mayor of Kaohsiung City, brought together over 100 ICT leaders from 16 economies, showcasing innovation at the cutting edge of technology across the region.
Pakistan’s delegation was guided by P@SHA Chairman Sajjad Mustafa Syed, APICTA Executive Committee member, along with Dr. Shoab Ahmed Khan, Shahzad Shahid, Khurram Idrees, Dr. Usman Akram, and Zain Tariq, who coordinated industry engagement and oversaw the country’s participation.
The awards reflected Pakistan’s growing global competitiveness in the ICT sector. The country took home the People’s Choice Award for Tertiary Students for the project GeoGemma by the Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad, and the Public Sector and Government Award for Government and Citizen Services for Dastak by KPITB.
First runner-up honors went to Sense Guard by Fazaia Inter College Jinnah Camp in the Senior Students category, Osteoscreen by the National University of Sciences and Technology in Tertiary Students Innovative Solutions, ALEF by Dynasys Networks in both Business Services ICT Solutions and Internet of Things (IoT), and Faceoff by Unikrew Solutions in Consumer Services.
